Live With...Clay?

Neither the RCA, the Clay Aiken nor the show’s website said anything about why Clay was going to be on “Live With Regis and Kelly” Friday, so I just presumed he would be promoting his Christmas tour.

So imagine my surprise Friday night when I hit play on my VCR and saw Clay sitting at the desk, co-hosting with Kelly.

I really wish there would’ve been a little more promotion on this one because if you missed it, you missed something really cool.

Clay was funny, flirtatious and just plain fabulous. If you watch “Live,” you know that Kelly Ripa rarely lets anyone get a word in edgewise—including Regis. But Clay confronted that head-on, taking shots at Kelly whenever he could and even putting his hand over her mouth at one point so he could ask Emmitt Smith a question.

Ryan Seacrest might want to watch his back…

The downside was that all the excitement over trivia “a go-go” and Clay’s constant attempts to be heard led to the worst performance I’ve ever heard from him, as his voice cracked several times. In his defense, though, the sound was completely off as the band was not loud enough and his backup singers were too loud. However, it was nice to see Clay singing one of the original songs from his CD (He did “A Thousand Days.”).

Clay made up for the performance, though, with his fancy footwork with Karina Smirnoff (Mario Lopez’s “Dancing” partner). So much for Clay not being able to dance.

Though I’m discouraged by the lack of promotion this appearance got, I am encouraged that Clay appears to be back on track just before the Christmas shopping season. Clay even looked more like himself, ditching the long bangs and lightening his hair. I think he too was stung by some of the backlash, so it’s nice to see he’s moving past it.

And if the singing career fizzles, I think he’s definitely got something to fall back on.